A Summary of major Construction Projects

This is a summary of the current and upcoming engineering work on the major European railway routes which will impact on train services for more than a weekend.
The vast majority of the work to improve railway lines, which impacts on the frequency and journey times info on thethe journey guides is completed over one Sat/Sun period.
So if you can't find a usual route or train departure online, it can be worth having a look at the links to the national construction work, which you will find below.
You may then have to translate the info, but it can worth the effort to discover what's occurring and to glean whether you'll need to take a bus for part of the journey, or whether trains are instead being diverted; info which may not be particularly obvious when looking up the journey on a ticket booking service.

The info included below is a guide to the the more extensive construction projects which impact on train services for a week or more, therefore useful to know if you're planning a rail pass itinerary and want to avoid any hassle, or are wondering why a typical connection isn't available on multiple days.

These are the upcoming rail construction projects which;

• last more than a weekend, so also impact on Monday to Friday travel
• affect long-distance express trains
• result in trains being diverted, with longer journey times (which impacts on connections)
• Or, are being substituted by buses for part of the journey.

One of the main north-south railway routes in Czechia is currently being reconstructed so that trains can travel at higher speeds in future and it is therefore completely closed between Blasko and Brno until at least mid-October.
This is impacting on one of the main routes used by express trains in Czechia; the Praha - Pardubice - Brno route.
The express trains which typically take this route are being diverted on to an alternative route, not usually taken by express trains, so that they can still operate direct in both directions between Praha and Brno, but as consequence they are not serving Pardubice.

Impact on international services

The trains on these routes typically use the Praha - Pardubice - Brno railway;

• (Hamburg) - Berlin - Praha - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest
• (Berlin) - Praha - Brno - Wien/Vienna
  so they are currently not calling in Pardubice, have slightly longer journey times and therefore amended arrivals and departures.

As the route they are having to temporarily use isn't intended for express trains, they are also more vulnerable to delays, hence the usually available 'Hungaria' daytime train on the Hamburg - Berlin - Praha - Brno - Bratislava - Budapest is currently cancelled.

Kobenhavn ↔ Odense:

The higher speed linebetween Kobenhavan and Ringsted is closed until Saturday April 30th, so that a new signaling system can be tested.
Until that date the express Lyn and IC services which typically use it when travelling between Kobenhavn and destinations beyond Odense, have been switched back to the older route via Roskilde, with journey times extended by 10 -15mins and subsequent alterations to arrival/departure times.

Aarhus ↔ Aalborg:

Until October work is being carried out to replace the railway tracks between Aarhus and Aalborg, so at various times until then buses are having to be substituted for the trains.

1: The high speed line between Hannover and Kassel

The primary north to south high speed line in Germany was opened more than 20 years ago, so it now needs to be overhauled.

Hence until May 9th many of the the ICE trains travelling between Hannover Hbf and Göttingen, will have their usual journey times extended by 15 mins; and in Germany when this is occurring, departure times at the starting points are usually brought forward.
During this period on Saturdays to Mondays, many of the ICE trains will be diverted away from the high-speed line completely and will not call in Göttingen and have their journey times extended by around 60 minutes.

This line is used by ICE trains on these routes:

• Berlin - Braunschweig - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Karlsruhe - Basel - Bern - Interlaken
• Berlin - Braunschweig - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen
• (Kiel) - Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - (Augsburg) - Munchen
• (Kiel) - Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart
• (Kiel) - Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) Karlsruhe - Basel - Zurich - (Chur)

2: The high speed line between Aschaffenburg / Fulda and Wurzburg
From June 11th to October 16th, the renovation works moves to the south and impacts on the line north of Wurzburg.
During the this time the following ICE routes will be impacted:

• Dortmund - Koln - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - Munchen; journeys will be extended by 20 mins, with earlier than normal departures from Munchen and Nurnberg; and later arrivals into those two locations.
• Dortmund - Koln - Bonn - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - Regensburg - Linz - Wien; these trains will be mainly calling at Frankfurt (Main) Sud instead of at Frankfurt (Main) hbf

Though the (Kiel) - Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - (Augsburg) - Munchen ICE services are seemingly unaffected by this work.

3: Alterations in The Rhine Gorge

Every weekend from Saturday, April 16 to Sunday, June 12 work is being carried out in the Bingen area on the Koln - Bonn - Koblenz - Bingen - Mainz express train route through the Rhine Gorge.
As a result several long-distance trains will be diverted between Koblenz Hbf and Mainz Hbf and will therefore run up to 15 minutes later, with the station call in Bingen cancelled.
Though what's particularly noteworthy is that these diverted trains will often be leaving up to 15 minutes earlier from their departure stations; which will impact on the their usual connections.

4: On the main route between Germany and Switzerland

Work is ongoing to convert more of the railway route between Karlsruhe and Basel into a high-speed line, which is impacting on train services on many weekends this summer. with many trains being turned round in either Karlsruhe or Freiburg.
The affected routes are:

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Baden Baden - Freiburg - Basel - Zurich
• Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Offenburg - Freiburg - Basel (- Bern - Interlaken)
• (Amsterdam) - Koln hbf - Frankfurt Flughafen - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Baden Baden - Offenburg - Freiburg - Basel (also fewer trains on this route will be available south of Karlsruhe between May 21st and June 10th).

5: At Mannhein Hauptbahnhof:
From May 4th to May 27th construction work in and near the main station in Mannheim is resulting in alterations for long-distance IC and ICE services, including some trains omitting the usual station calls in Mannheim, as well as journey time extensions of up to 20-30 minutes.
The work will seemingly be particularly impacting on some trains on these two routes:

• ICE trains on the Dortmund - Koln/Cologne (Messe/Deutz) - Frankfurt Flughafen - Mannheim - Stuttgart route (May 4th to May 27th)
• ICE and IC trains on the Dortmund - Koln/Cologne hbf - Bonn - Mainz - Mannheim - Stuttgart route (May 16th to May 27th).

Mannhein Hbf is a major connecting hub on the German rail network, therefore many usually available transfer times between trains are having to be extened,

6: Between Frankfurt (Main) and Mannheim on Germany's busiest ICE route:
From Friday, May 6, 9:00pm to Friday, June 10, 9:00pm, construction work is being carried out on the railway used by trains travelling between Frankfurt (Main) hbf and Mannheim:
It isn't a high speed line, but it used by the ICE trains on these four core routes:

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Baden Baden - Freiburg - Basel - Zurich
• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen - Mannheim - Stuttgart
• Berlin - Leipzig - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Munchen
• Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Offenburg - Freiburg - Basel (- Bern - Interlaken)

During this time the trains on these routes will be affected in one of three ways;

1. They will have journey times extended by around 20 mins
2. They will call at Frankfurt (Main) Sud instead of at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
3. They won't be calling at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf or Mannheim Hbf and instead will be calling at Frankfurt (Main) Sud and Heidelberg.
   Some of the trains on the Hamburg - Stuttgart route also won't be calling at Frankfurt Flughafen,

7: Between Bamberg and Nurnberg

From from Friday, May 20, 9:00pm. to Wednesday, June 1, 12:00am numerous ICE trains are canceled between Berlin-Gesundbrunnen/Berlin Hbf and Munich Hbf due to track work between Bamberg and Nurnberg.

8: Trains between Munchen/Munich and Salzburg

From Saturday May 21st until Wednesday July 13th work is being carried out the route used by express and Regio trains between Munchen Hbf and Munchen Ost.
The affected services include:

• the Railjet trains on the Munchen - Salzburg - Wien - Budapest route, some of which won't be departing from and arriving at Munchen Hbf, the city's main station, but will instead be commencing and terminating their journeys at Munchen Ost station.
• the EC trains on the Munchen - Italy routes, won't be calling at Munchen Ost and will be departing from Munchen Hbf 15 -20 mins earlier than usual, and arriving there 15-20 mins later.

The local S-Bahn trains will be operating as usual between Munchen Hbf and Munchen Ost stations

From Saturday May 21st until Monday August 1st, the same construction project means that most of EC trains which take the route between Munchen and Salzburg are being suspended between these two cities during this period of time.
This impacts on journeys by EC trains between Germany and Klagenfurt, Villach and Slovenia.
The Munchen - Klagenfurt Railjet service is also affected.

9: Construction work near Ulm:

Between May 21st and June 4th the railway between Ulm and Augsburg is closed due to the need to replace a bridge in Gunzburg which will impact on the following train services:
On these two ICE routes:

• (Hamburg) - Dortmund - Koln - Mannhein - Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg - Munchen
• Berlin - Leipzig - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg - Munchen
  the trains will either be diverted on to a longer route and won't calling in Ulm; or will be cancelled between Stuttgart and Munchen.

During this period of time the EC trains on the Frankfurt (Main) / Saarbrucken - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Munchen - Salzburg - destinations in Austria routes seemingly won't be operating between Frankfurt (Main) or Stuttgart and Munich/Munchen.

Also during this time the daily Paris ↔ Munchen TGV services won't be travelling beyond Stuttgart.

10: Construction work near Stuttgart:
Due to track work in the Stuttgart area, the following alterations are being made to the usual schedules:

• From June 4th to June 10th some IC and EC trains won't be calling in Stuttgart, this includes some EC trains on the routes between locations to the north of Stuttgart and Munchen; and on to/from Austria.
• From Friday May 27th until June 10th some ICE trains, which normally terminate or commence in Stuttgart, will instead be turning around in Mannheim.

11: The high speed line between Nurnberg and Ingolstadt:
From Saturday 25 June at 9:50 pm to Sunday 3 July at 5:00am, technical testing work is closing this line used by these ICE services:

• Dortmund - Koln - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - Munchen
• Hamburg / Bremen - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - Munchen
• Hamburg - Berlin - Halle - (Leipzig) - Erfurt - Nurnberg - Munchen

During this time trains will either be:

• diverted on to a longer route which will extend their journey time by 50mins
• have journey times extended by 21 mins
• will be cancelled between Nurnberg and Munchen

Due to track work no TGV trains will be serving Luxembourg station from July 16 to August 28 inclusive, during this time they will be terminating and commencing journeys at either Metz or Thionville.

Also on these weekends

• April 30 and May 1
• June 25 and 26
  due to the construction of a new railway line in Luxembourg, all TGVs serving Luxembourg station are to be substituted by a bus service between Bettembourg and Luxembourg stations in both directions.

On Saturday July 3rd, no trains will be able to use Venezia S.Lucia, the main station in Venice.
Trains will be turning round at Venezia Mestre, the station on the mainland, with buses replacing trains between the two stations.

One day closures wouldn't normally appear on this list, but this will affect many travellers.

From September 19th to September 28th the railway between Lund and Malmo will be closed with buses substituting for the trains.
The Snabbtag trains from Stockholm to Malmo and Kobenhavn will be turned round at Lund.
For journeys by Oresundtag trains between Denmark and Lund plus destinations to the north including Goteborg, the part of the journey between Malmo and Lund will be by bus.

From April 19th to May 2nd construction work is being carried out the main railway route which connects Basel to the south and east of Switzerland. It will impact on the following express train (IC) services:

• Route 3: Basel - Zurich - Landquart - Chur; some trains will only operate between Zurich and Chur
• Route 6: Basel - Olten - Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig; some trains will only operate between Bern and Brig
• Route 21: Basel - Olten - Luzern - Bellinzona - Lugano; some trains will only operate between Olten and Lugano
• Route 61: Basel - Olten - Bern - Thun - Spiez - Interlaken; some trains will only operate between Bern and Interlaken

This work north of Olten overlaps with work near Luzern station, which is taking place from April 19th to May 5th.
With the exception of the weekend of April 30th-May 1st most long-distance trains won't be calling in Luzern station the trains on these routes will be calling at Rotkreuz instead of Luzern:

• Basel - Olten - Luzern - Bellinzona - Lugano (this includes the Frankfurt to Milano EC train)
• Basel - Olten - Luzern - Goschenen - Faido - Bellinzona - Locarno
• Luzen - Pffafikon - St Gallen (The Voralpen Express)

The IR trains which use the Zurich ↔ Luzern route are unaffected, so there will be two trains per hour linking Rotkreuz and Luzern, while those other services are being diverted.

These are the upcoming works on the railway lines which will be impacting on international railway routes; sorted by earliest first.

From Monday, June 13, 12:00am to Friday, June 17, 9:00pm AND from Monday, June 20, 12:00am. to Friday, June 24 at 9:00pm, several ICE trains on the Amsterdam ↔ Koln route (which continue beyond Koln to Basel or Frankfurt) are being diverted between The Netherlands and Germany.
As consequence their usual stops in Düsseldorf Hbf, Duisburg Hbf, Oberhausen Hbf and Arnhem will be omitted; and their journey times will be longer too.
Also during these periods of time most of the trains are also being turned around in Koln, so won't be serving destinations to the south including Frankfurt (Main).

From Friday, April 22 to Friday, May 6, the IC trains on the Amsterdam - Amsersfoort - Deventer - Hengelo - Bad Bentheim - Rheine - Osnabruck - Hannover - Wolfsburg - Berlin route are canceled between Amsterdam Centraal and Rheine.
The usual Dutch trains between Amsterdam Centraal and Hengelo will be available, but buses will be used for the section of the journey between Hengelo and Rheine.

The Lyria train services between the French capital will be impacted by works on the line until the end of July.
During this period the majority of the trains will be operating to their usual schedules, but the major alterations include:

• The usual final departure of the day from Paris to Lausanne via Geneve (train no, 9789), apparently won't be operating at all in May and June; and on most days in July
• From June 7th to July 24th inclusive, the timetables show all trains on the Paris - Dijon - Mulhouse - Basel - Zurich route as being turned round in Basel, with no service to/from Zurich.

From May 6th to June 10th construction work is being carried out to the south of Frankfurt (Main) so during this time the TGV and ICE trains will be arriving up to 20 minutes later in Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and departing up to 15 minutes earlier fromFrankfurt (Main) Hbf.
In addition, some TGV and ICE trains will not stop in Mannheim Hbf from May 28 to June 6; and also during this shorter period of time, some services are canceled between Mannheim Hbf and Frankfurt (Main) Hbf.

From Saturday May 21st until Monday August 1st construction work is resulting in the suspension during this period of time ,of most of the international trains which take the route between Munchen and Salzburg.
This impacts on journeys by EC and Railjet trains between Germany and Klagenfurt, Villach and Slovenia.

From April 27th to June 2nd on certain days of the week, work is being carried out between Karlstad and Kristinehamn, usually during the day. As a result the trains are being replaced by buses on this section, but some departures will also be cancelled.

From June 5th until August 7th there will be no direct trains between Olso and Goteborg / Gothenburg due to construction works on the railway south of Oslo.
On certain dates there will be a substitute bus service operating between Oslo and Rygge, but timings have yet to be confirmed.